Among the numerous Hispanic artists gaining fame with U.S. audiences, Espinoza Paz ranks high on the list. Well known throughout Mexico for his norteña and banda (brass influenced) musical styles, Paz’ reputation is rapidly expanding on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. When touring the United States, Paz relies on his Aero Series 2 loudspeaker systems from Valencia, Spain-based D.A.S. Audio for a wide range of performance venues.
San Antonio, TX-based Global Productions handles all aspects of Paz’ staging considerations, including audio, lighting, and video. Adrian Gallegos, co-owner of Global Productions, serves as the tour’s production manager and performs double duty as the monitor engineer for the artist’s U.S. performances. To accommodate the various venues where Paz performs, Gallegos depends on a combination of D.A.S. Audio Aero 12A, Aero 8A, and Aero 50 line array loudspeaker systems plus a contingent of LX-218A subwoofers. He discussed his experiences using D.A.S. Audio’s Aero Series 2 loudspeaker systems.
“Our loudspeaker setups vary quite a bit,” says Gallegos, “depending on the nature of the venue. We go from arenas to theaters to nightclubs, so I have to be able to handle a wide range of performance spaces. Currently, we have twenty-four D.A.S. Audio Aero 12A powered line array elements that we frequently fly twelve units per side. These are accompanied by a dozen D.A.S. LX-218A powered subwoofers that we position six boxes per side. We’ve also been using D.A.S. Audio’s large format, 3-way active Aero 50 line array enclosures for the largest venues like arenas and big theaters. When we use the Aero 50’s, we typically fly 8 units per side and use the LX-218A subs for low frequency support.”
For smaller venues, Gallegos reports using eight Aero 12A’s per side in conjunction with the twelve LX-218A subwoofers. Frequently, he’ll use D.A.S. Audio’s Aero 8A ultra-compact line array enclosures for front fills. “I love the versatility the Aero Series 2 loudspeaker systems provide,” Gallegos said. “The Aero 12A and Aero 8A sound terrific. They are extremely easy to setup, tear down, and transport and the integrated hardware is a pleasure to work with. Assembling the clusters and adjusting the pinouts for angling is very quick and effortless. I like to think of the Aero 12A as a turnkey box that does everything I ask of it.”
When working smaller venues, the Aero 12A’s offer numerous benefits. “Nightclubs are never easy to set up for,” said Gallegos. “With the Aero 12A being a compact loudspeaker enclosure, it’s very easy to rig 6 or 8 boxes per side. We can hang these loudspeakers off Genie lifts without any problems whatsoever and they also work really well when we need to ground stack the enclosures.”
Gallegos also notes that it’s not uncommon to deploy a combination of the Aero 50 and Aero 12A enclosures. “On big arena jobs,” he explained, “I use eight Aero 50’s per side (for a total of 16) and use a combination setup where the Aero 12A’s assume downfill and frontfill responsibilities. We also use the Aero 12A’s for the extreme sides in addition to the left-right house mains to ensure consistent coverage from one side of the space to the other.”
The self-powered design of the Aero 12A, Aero 8A, and LX-218A subwoofers carry advantages for Gallegos and his crew. “The fact that these loudspeakers are self-powered makes system cabling considerably easier,” he said. “Further, the DSP capabilities for loudspeaker management are excellent and since the power amps are built right into the rear of the enclosures, the end result is much faster and simplified setup and tear-down.”
As he prepared for the next stop of the tour, Gallegos offered these closing thoughts, “Our experience with D.A.S. Audio has been excellent. The company’s customer and tech support services are first rate. Our main sales and support person—Carlos Henao—has been terrific in terms of follow-up and ensuring that we understand the various aspects of the equipment. This of, course, has resulted in system performance that is beyond what we had ever hoped for. We regularly received compliments for the sound quality from concert goers and Espinoza Paz has been equally pleased with the system’s performance. In the roughly eight months that we’ve been using the D.A.S. gear, we’ve had very consistent sound quality from job to job and we can cover every type of venue we encounter without issues. I’m a big fan of D.A.S.”
